Essay On The Causes Of The First World War

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The first world war started in August 1914. The assassination of the Austrian archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife directly triggered the war, but it is believed by most that this was only a spark to start the war, and that there were many other factors leading up to it. These factors include a strong sense of nationalism and militarism within the countries, and the fight for the Balkans between Russia and Austria-Hungary. With imperialism already causing tensions between countries, some believe that the war was inevitable. There is ultimately no main cause or event that triggered the war, but a lot of small tensions that built up over time, eventually coming to a head and starting the war. The first and probably most important cause of the war was the assassination of Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand on June 28th, 1914. The Archduke and his wife, Sophie, were shot to death by Gavrilo Princip, the only successful member of a group of six assassins in doing so. The annexation of the imperial armed forces in Herzegovina and Bosnia by Austria-Hungary angered Serbian nationalists, ...

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